


50 Years in a Flash

by KatieComma



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: 9 years is too long, Coda to 9x01, Danny cleans him up, First Kiss, Idiots in Love, M/M, Mentions of 8x10, Steve is a mess, or is it just the right amount of time?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-18
Updated: 2019-11-18
Packaged: 2021-02-08 10:42:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21474679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieComma/pseuds/KatieComma
Summary: What happens to Steve in the deprivation tank when he starts to hallucinate? Where does his mind take him?
Relationships: Steve McGarrett/Danny "Danno" Williams
Comments: 38
Kudos: 231





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to the ALWAYS lovely Orianess for beta reading for me!!!! You're a diamond in the rough m'dear!!!

The world was dark. No, it wasn’t quite darkness, it was nothing. 

Steve was blind in every way.

They’d filled his nose and eyes and ears with scentless putty that blocked out everything. And then they’d sealed him up in a suit and suspended him in a tank of water. The man hadn’t lied to him: there was no sensation here, and without sensation and just his thoughts, Steve could see how it could make him go mad.

He used all the tricks he’d ever been taught as a Naval ops Officer, and a SEAL. Every little trick to keep his mind sharp and focused on staying sane. The logic puzzles in his head that kept him concentrating on anything but the surroundings. Meditation. There were dozens upon dozens of strategies and he passed through them all one by one.

And then his mind began to wander, and focus on the fact that he wasn’t feeling, wasn’t hearing. That he was in a void of sensation.

It could have been minutes, hours, days. How was he to know?

And then suddenly he heard a sound, which he knew was impossible. But it sounded like people talking. Pleasant conversations overlapping each other. And the clink of cutlery on plates. The clinking of glasses.

The restaurant buzzed, every table occupied except for the one in the corner that Sam, the maitre’d, was guiding a pair toward. Steve’s was a hit, just like they knew it would be. There’d been fights, some ups and downs, but it had happened just like they’d dreamed: retired, and running their restaurant. Together.

Steve wanted to see Danny suddenly, craved to make him smile, and talk to him. Danny, who was just a short distance away in the kitchen.

So Steve made his rounds across the dining room, checking in with regulars and recommending their special for the night. He stopped to check in with Julie, one of the waitresses, to let her know to comp some Prosecco for a couple celebrating an anniversary, before he pushed through the swinging doors into the busy kitchen.

Danny was standing there, almost like he was waiting for Steve. So in tune, it’s like he felt him coming. Steve reached out and pulled Danny into a hug. He never wanted to let go.

“Full house man,” Steve said softly into Danny’s ear. He held him close for a moment, but there was too much to be done to share sentimentality in the middle of dinner rush. They had all the time in the world to hold each other once work was done.

“Well, with such a charming handsome guy out front…” Danny replied into his ear before they pulled away from each other.

And there was that smile of Danny’s that Steve loved so much. Pure happiness distilled into a person.

“Well, you know, that’s why I popped a few buttons,” Steve replied, tugging at the top of his dress shirt that he’d left a little open just the way Danny liked. “Thought it might draw in some extra clientele.”

“Clientele?” Danny laughed, turning back toward the kitchen staff, “you sound like a hooker babe.”

Steve shrugged. “Well, if this didn’t pan out, that was retirement plan B,” he joked. He walked over and grabbed the open bottle of whiskey they always kept in the kitchen, pouring himself a small glass.

“Hey, c’mere,” Danny said. “I want you to try something great.”

Steve turned back to Danny who was holding a spoon toward him. “What is this? What am I trying?”

“Never mind what it is, just taste it,” Danny said with that gleeful smile that made Steve’s stomach flip the way it did any of the times he'd ever jumped from a plane. 

Danny held up the spoon toward Steve, who leaned over and let Danny feed the spoonful to him. It tasted glorious. Soft and warm but tangy and spicy all at the same time.

“Stop,” Steve said after he’d barely swallowed the mouthful. “Can I get some more of that? What is this? It’s amazing.”

Danny’s smile widened. “It’s all Freddie here,” he motioned to the cook beside him.

“Are you kidding me Freddie?” Steve asked rhetorically.

“No sir,” the cook replied with a smile.

Steve turned his attention back to Danny. “Grandma Williams, she’s smiling down on you right now.”

Danny’s face got solemn, and he choked through his next words to clear the sentimentality. “So, put it on the menu, whaddya think?”

“Course,” Steve replied, and then looking to lighten the mood, added: “Serve ‘em Danny,” with a smile.

Steve was sipping at his glass of top shelf whiskey when Danny looked over at the little TV in the corner of the kitchen.

“Can you believe this?” Danny asked, his eyes darting from the TV and around to his cooks to make sure everything was still moving.

Steve glanced up at the TV and saw a reporter standing on a dock in an industrial section of the harbour. The headline at the bottom read: Local Navy SEAL found drowned in Honolulu Harbour.

“Woah, local?” Steve said, turning to Danny. “I wonder if it’s somebody I know.”

“Whaddya mean?” Danny asked, confused.

“What do I mean?” Steve repeated. “He’s a SEAL, probably from the base I'm guessing. I might know the guy.”

“Are you serious?” Danny asked, pointing to the screen. “Do you _know_ the guy? That’s you babe.”

Steve looked back at the screen, and his picture came up next to the headline, the reporter talking about “suspicious circumstances” and “an investigation underway.”

Suddenly Steve couldn’t breathe. His chest felt constricted and he couldn’t hear anything. Danny was standing in front of him, and his mouth was moving, but nothing was coming out. All he wanted was to hold Danny, tuck him close and let him know everything would be alright. Steve wasn’t dead. He was right there. Steve tried to reach out, but his arms wouldn’t move, and then everything started to fade, the black closing in around the edges.

And then Danny was gone. And Steve was alone in the black.

Sunshine warmed Steve's eyelids, and he opened his eyes to find himself in the upstairs hallway of his house.

“Ok, just don’t keep us waiting too long,” Danny said with a smile as he closed the door to the spare room.

Steve stood waiting in the hall, leaned casually against the wall. He was nervous, but he needed to be the rock for a few people so he was playing it cool and calm and collected. Years of Navy training had prepared him for Grace’s wedding day.

Danny’s shoulders slumped immediately, and he wore a frantic and tired look on his face.

Steve straightened up and walked over to Danny. “You alright Danno?” Steve asked, voice pitched low so Grace couldn’t hear.

Danny nodded, but his eyes were a bit misty.

“What are you worried about?” Steve asked, straightening Danny’s collar and bowtie before sliding a comforting hand around the back of Danny’s neck and putting their foreheads together. “Gracie’s tough like her old man. She’ll be fine.”

“That’s my little girl in there Steve…” Danny’s voice broke, and he clutched at Steve, pulling him into a hug, pressing his face into Steve’s neck. “But she’s not my little girl anymore.”

“No, no, no,” Steve chided. “Gracie’s always gonna be your little girl Danny. She’s still your monkey.” Steve pushed Danny back and looked into his face. “Listen, you go downstairs and talk to Lou. He’s walking around down there like a pitbull. He’s gonna pace a hole in the floor. Give me a minute with Gracie, ok?”

Danny nodded, coughed a little to clear his throat, straightened his suit and went for the stairs. Lou was already waiting at the bottom like a bloodhound.

Steve knocked at the door.

“Hey Gracie, got a minute for Uncle Steve?” He asked, watching Danny descend the stairs.

Danny turned one more time and looked at Steve, who shot him a wink.

Grace opened the door and smiled shyly up at Steve, biting her lip.

It was the first time Steve had seen her in the her dress and he understood exactly where Danny was coming from. Steve’s eyes immediately welled up with tears.

“I always have a minute for Uncle Steve,” she said with a grin, stepping aside.

Steve stepped into the room, took out his pocket square, and dabbed at the tears tracks on her face, careful not to smear any makeup.

“That Danno, I tell ya,” Steve joked. “Came in here and made you all teary on your wedding day. He’s not supposed to do that until speeches.”

Grace laughed, and moved over to the mirror in the corner, taking Steve’s pocket square with her to dab the rest of the tears away.

“You ok Gracie?” Steve asked. “Really?”

He could see her face in the mirror, and doubt creased her eyebrows for a moment before she turned back to him.

“How do you guys do it?” She asked.

“Do what?” Steve asked, still completely awed by how amazing she looked in her wedding gown; that Gracie was getting married at all. He was still floored by the fact that she’d asked to get married in his back yard. He swallowed hard to clear all of those emotions away and be there for Grace.

“You and Danno, how have you guys stayed together so long?” She asked, fumbling with and unfolding the piece of fabric in her hands.

“When you meet the right person, you just know,” Steve replied. “Me and Danno just knew. Sure, it took us a few years to get on the same page. But from the minute he punched me in the face I knew I was done for.”

Grace laughed, and it was music.

Steve got serious for a minute, walked to her and tipped her face up to his. “Grace, I can’t tell you if you’re making the right choice,” he said honestly, “but if it felt right yesterday. Then it’s still right today.”

Grace smiled, and it was the sun coming out on a rainy day.

“You need me to grab Auntie Kono? Help you fix up your makeup?” He asked. “Cause I am no help in that department unless you're looking for some military grade camo paint that will keep you hidden in the jungle.”

Grace shook her head, the mistiness in her eyes clearing up. “You think you’ll love Danno forever?” She asked, taking his left hand and spinning the wedding ring on his finger.

“I know it kiddo,” he said. “Not a doubt in my mind.”

The sunshine glared off something in the room, flaring bright and he squinted against the sudden light.

When he opened his eyes again Steve sat next to Danny in the front row of folding chairs in the warm sunshine. Steve was sweating a little in his suit, but that didn’t matter because today was a big day.

Duke stood behind a podium on a small covered stage, at the front of a few rows of seated cadets who were graduating from the HPD police academy.

Steve sat next to Danny in the front row. Tani and Junior sat next to them, leaned into each other the way married couples will do.

Steve’s eyes were all for Charlie, sitting at the front of the cadets, chest puffed up, so proud. He looked just like his father: bright blue eyes and golden hair. Although, Danny’s had its fair share of grey streaked through it now, and in his scruff. And Steve was totally fine with that. Growing old with someone wasn’t something he knew he’d wanted until he met Danny Williams.

Charlie’s eyes slipped away from Duke and toward the crowd for a moment. A grin pulled at the side of his mouth before he turned his attention back to the speech.

Danny leaned over. “Think he’s lookin’ at me?” He asked quietly.

Steve couldn’t resist. “No, I’m pretty sure he was looking at me,” he said, straight faced.

Danny did that back and forth thing with his head he did when he knew he was right but he was trying to be nice. “No, I’m his father,” he said.

“I’m his role-model, Danny,” Steve argued.

“Huh, you really… you really believe that?” Danny asked, squinting against the bright day and leaning a little closer to Steve even though he wasn’t pitching his voice any lower.

“Oh, I know it,” Steve replied, “he told me.” Which wasn’t untrue. Charlie had said that to Steve a number of times, making him tear up a little more each and every time as he watched Charlie grow into an honourable man.

“No, he didn’t tell you that,” Danny jabbed, though he’d overheard it more than once.

“Mmmhmm,” Steve answered with a smile and left it at that as Danny leaned even closer and and put his arm across the back of Steve’s chair. Steve leaned into the warmth despite the heat of the day.

Conversation hummed between Tani and Junior next to them, bickering similar to Steve and Danny's until they smiled at each other and leaned in for a kiss.

After all these years, despite the fact that everyone knew Steve and Danny were together (they weren’t quiet about it), they still didn’t feel comfortable enough to show that much affection in public. Steve had a hard time with it, and it left him wondering if it was a hang up on what everyone else thought, or just that he’d never been a PDA person in general; not even with the women he’d been with in the past. 

The jealousy for Tani and Junior hit him hard. Two couples sitting side-by-side, both wearing wedding rings, and yet there was an unspoken expectation hanging over one couple to “keep that kind of display where it belongs: behind closed doors.”

Steve felt Danny tense beside him and knew he was thinking the same. So Steve decided to buck with their tradition of giving a fuck what everyone else thought. He leaned more into Danny’s body, turned and lightly kissed his temple. It wasn’t an earth shattering, society changing event, but he felt Danny relax against him. And that was more than enough.

When Steve looked back to the cadets, he saw Charlie was smiling wide at them both.

After the ceremony Steve took about a million pictures of Danny and Charlie. Serious, goofy, even one where Danny looked like he was getting a little sentimental. Steve tagged it as a favourite immediately to find it easily later. Danny rarely got misty-eyed like that.

“Come on Uncle Steve!” Charlie said after the millionth picture was taken. “Get in here already. We need a family shot!”

“I’ll take it,” Tani said, grabbing Steve’s phone from him. “Get in there.”

Steve put an arm around Charlie, Danny on the other side and they all leaned together.

“Why do you still call him Uncle Steve anyway?” Tani asked as she clicked several photos. “Shouldn’t he be ‘dad’ after all these years?”

“Yeah, I always wondered that,” Junior piped up.

“Never really thought about it,” Charlie said, looking at Steve as though he held the answer. “We called him Uncle Steve for so many years before these two knuckleheads figured out their feelings, that it just stuck.”

“Knuckleheads?” Danny asked with a grin. “I’ll show you…” He pulled Charlie into a loose headlock and pretended to wrestle with him, at which point Tani got several great photos of father and son play fighting. Steve would mark them all as favourites later.

Steve heard his name called from somewhere behind him. It sounded like Danny's voice, which was impossible because Danny was standing in front of him, but Steve turned instinctively.

As he turned everything around him changed, and he wasn't outside anymore, surrounded by friends and family on a happy day. He was in a hospital hallway. And Danny was saying his name.

"Steve, you with me?"

"Course," Steve replied, suddenly remembering what they were doing.

They strode together, with purpose, into the maternity ward with a big pretty gift bag that Mary had put together for them. They glanced down the hallway and saw Adam standing in front of a big glass window, watching his kid.

“You get Adam, I’ll get Kono?” Steve suggested.

Danny turned back to Steve and was grinning like an idiot.

“Unless,” Steve offered, “you want Kono?”

Danny shook his head. “I’ve got the ‘how to be a dad’ talk down at this point,” he supplied. “Plus, I would pay money not to be in a room with Kono after what she’s just been through.”

Steve smiled. “Fair enough.”

“That’s definitely a job for a Navy SEAL,” Danny quipped before he sauntered down the hall and hugged Adam tight. Steve could tell by the set of his shoulders that Danny was elated, and probably still smiling wide. He loved kids.

Steve took the bag and wandered the halls looking for the room number they’d been given. He heard Kono before he spotted the room number.

“-Can do it!” Kono’s voice carried into the hall. “I’m telling you I am fine and I can get up out of this damn bed myself.”

Steve poked his head in the open door. “Everything ok?” He asked.

The nurse sighed, and it looked like she was trying to restrain Kono and push her back into bed.

“No, everything is not ok,” Kono growled. “I just want to get out of this damn bed. I’m sick of it already.”

“Mrs Noshimuri, you need to rest,” the nurse said.

“Like hell I do!”

Steve couldn’t help but let out a chuckle as he stepped further into the room and put the bag down on a table. “Hey, Kono?” He offered. “Why don’t you sit and talk with me for a bit and then we can get you up and moving around?”

The nurse sighed again and walked toward the door. She stopped next to Steve and whispered: “if you keep her talking for a little bit she’ll fall asleep on her own.”

“I hear you whispering over there! I’m not deaf you know!”

The nurse stomped out of the room.

Steve pulled a chair up near the bed and sat down in it. “Why don’t you, maybe lay back and cover up?” Steve suggested, holding up a hand to block his view of anything inappropriate that he might see where Kono’s gown was riding up.

“Oh, shit, sorry boss,” Kono apologized and did as asked, pulling the blanket over her bare legs. “I’m just so tired of this damn bed already. I want to go see Adam, and my little girl.” She teared up a little, sniffling into her hand but her face was all smiles.

Steve put what he hoped was a reassuring hand on her forearm. “You will Kono, you will,” he said. “As for Adam, he’s getting some excellent fatherly advice at the moment from our very own Danny Williams-McGarrett.”

Kono bit at her bottom lip the way she did when she was getting choked up and was trying to keep the tears back. It didn’t work.

Steve stood up and stepped close to the bed. “I don’t…” He looked down at the IV in her arm. “Can I hug you? I don’t know where you’re hurting. This is one of those things I’ve never been in the hospital for.”

Kono barked a laugh through tears and held her arms open.

Steve pulled her into a hug and set a kiss to the top of her head. “I cannot wait to see your little girl Kono. I just know she’s-” He wanted to say beautiful, but the words got stuck in his throat and he coughed. His lungs burned.

He took a step back out of Kono’s embrace, and she looked up, concerned.

“You ok boss?” She asked.

Steve coughed again, and the pressure on his chest got worse. He wanted to say: “I feel dizzy,” but his throat wouldn’t croak out the words.

“You need some water Steve?” Kono asked, shifting to the edge of her bed. “Looks like you might faint or something.”

Steve took another step back and kicked the chair out from behind him. He hadn’t realized it was there. And the world was closing in around him. Where was Danny? Danny would make everything ok!

“Here, have some water,” Kono held out a cup with a straw in it.

Water? No! No more water! There was too much water! It wasn’t inside him and yet he felt like he was choking on it. The world narrowed to a little circle, and then he was fading back into the black.

Water. The ocean. It stretched out in front of Steve, and it was a perfect sunny day. The shade was just right, lingering over him, and the sand and ocean were running between his toes. He could feel the years that stretched behind him. Decades and decades of doing stupid things had made him ache all over, but it had all been worth it.

He looked over at Danny next to him, sitting in the same old wooden chair he’d been sitting in for decades. Fifty years or so since they’d met. They’d stopped counting a long time ago.

Now they sat together, as they had been doing for years, on _their_ beach, out back of _their_ house, enjoying retirement and each other’s company.

Something flashed into Steve’s brain. Something he’d almost forgotten.

“Oh, hey,” he said to Danny, “Clara called for you yesterday. I forgot to tell you. What’s she doing anyway?”

Danny’s soft, gentle snores floated back to Steve. The same snores he had to listen to every night when they curled up in bed together. The same snores he’d listened to for years. And though they were soft and sweet and comforting, he was trying to have a damn conversation with his husband.

“Hey! Wake up,” Steve said. “Wake up.”

Danny mumbled himself awake.

“Wake up, I’m talkin’ to you,” Steve chided.

“What happened?” Danny asked as he opened his eyes.

“Hey! I said there was a phone call for you yesterday. Clara was on the phone,” Steve repeated.

“I heard what you said,” Danny grumbled, their words overlapping. “Yesterday? You’re telling me about a phone call yesterday, today?”

“Has she made a decision yet?” Steve asked, skirting the argument with skill, the way he’d done for a long time.

“What’s the matter with you?” Danny asked, trying to press the argument, but losing. “Yeah, she’s going to the academy in the fall. I told you.”

Steve couldn’t remember Danny saying anything about it before. But who knew with the way his brain had been leaking things. “She’s going to the academy?” Steve couldn’t hide the excitement from his voice. Their beautiful granddaughter was going to be a cop. Steve felt like he might burst with pride.

“What did I just say?” Danny’s hands started to move, coming up off the arms of the old chair. “Wow, you _are_ going senile.”

Steve smiled and looked back at Danny. That face that somehow only got more handsome with age. Steve knew every line, every grey hair, every sad old liver spot, and he loved every single one of them. Except maybe not the mole that looked suspicious that the doctors still tried to tell Danny was nothing.

“You know what? That is something,” Steve said. “That is really something. Can you believe there’s going to be three generations of cops in your family Danny?”

“Well,” Danny said, drawing the word out. Steve could see the pessimism rising to the surface. “Tell you the truth I with she would have done something else.”

“Why?” Steve asked. “Why? It’s in her blood.”

“She came to me before she made her decision,” Danny admitted.

“She came to you?” Steve asked, surprised. This was new information, or another thing Danny had told him and they’d both forgotten. But they still remembered the things that counted.

“Yeah, she came to me,” Danny said, an argument brewing. “Who’s she going to come to? You?”

Steve smiled and let that one slide. “Come on,” he said, encouraging Danny to continue.

“Anyways, she came to me. She wanted to know what I thought about my life. Like, if I could, you know, change anything. Would I change anything? Would I do anything differently?”

“What’d you tell her?” Steve asked, genuinely curious.

“Well I’ll get to that if you shut up for three seconds.” Danny paused and looked back out to sea. “I told her that I…”

Steve waited, tense, wondering just what their life together had meant to Danny. Would he throw it away? Have done something differently? Steve knew his own answer with no question: every single moment of his life had brought him to Danny, to sharing everything with Danny. And no matter the hurt he’d gone through, the suffering, he wouldn’t trade a single moment if it meant losing any of the moments he’d had with Danny.

Danny slowly continued, still watching the sea. “I told her I wouldn’t change anything.” And then it spilled out of him. “I told her that I wanted to lie, but I couldn’t lie. And I told her that I wouldn’t… wouldn’t do it…” Danny choked up a little, but swallowed it quickly. “If I had to do it all over again, I’d do it the same way.”

Steve felt like he might bust in two. “That’s the truth?” He asked.

“That’s the truth,” Danny said softly.

“Huh?” Steve had heard him, but he wanted something more.

“I mean…” Danny spoke up a little more clearly, a big smile lighting his face. And it was like going back in time for Steve every time he saw that smile. They were in their 30’s again, just met, young and foolish and beautiful. “I would have changed my partner,” Danny joked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Steve smiled, looking back out to sea. “I love you too Danno.”

Danny’s hand landed softly on Steve’s arm, and gripped tight, his fingers still full of iron strength.

Steve watched the sea, listened to the waves, and let the beautiful water lull him to sleep while Danny’s touch on his arm kept him grounded. And he knew that no matter what was ahead of them, they’d lived their best lives and found each other. And that was all that mattered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny asked again, with less conviction. “What’s my name?”
> 
> “Danny,” Steve croaked out.
> 
> Danny’s heart restarted. “Good, good, good,” tripped out of his mouth. “How long we known each other?”
> 
> Steve gulped, but didn’t hesitate. “Fifty years,” he answered seriously.
> 
> “Fifty?” Danny asked, wanting to smack the idiot in front of him. “That’s not funny.”

Danny rushed through the ship, checking around corners and doorways, but not waiting for his backup. He needed to find Steve. He could feel it in his blood that something was very wrong.

“Don’t you die on me you idiot,” Danny grunted under his breath as he cleared room after room alone, rushing ahead of Grover, and Tani and Junior.

He came out into a humid room, with a small pool at the centre. Steve was underwater, being choked by a man.

No hesitation, Danny aimed for the back of the man's head and pulled the trigger.

The man fell into the water, and Steve untangled his neck from a scary-looking metal cable.

Steve moved toward the edge of the pool, and Danny ran around to grasp his hand. “Steve!” He called out on the way, hoping his voice was comforting. He gripped Steve’s hand and pulled him from the water. Steve’s hand was shaking. He crawled away from the water, coughing as he went.

“Hey, Steve?” Danny said, putting hands on Steve’s back, wanting to provide something for him. Wanting to be sure Steve was really there in front of him, ok and breathing. “Hey, hey,” Danny said softly as Steve turned to sit on the ground. “You ok?” Danny asked.

No answer. Steve just gasped for air, his face bloody and bruised. Damnit, they’d waited too long. This whole plan had been stupid.

“You ok?” Danny repeated.

Steve glanced down to the floor, but Danny grabbed his chin and pulled his face back up so he could look Steve in the eye.

“Hey! Hey. Look at me,” Danny demanded. “Look at me. You ok? You alright?” He kept a hand resting on Steve’s tented knee. He gripped it a little too tightly and he didn’t care.

Steve’s eyes were glazed, and he wore “confused face” like it was going to stick around permanently.

“What’s my name, huh?” Danny asked.

Steve’s brows wrinkled in confusion and Danny’s heart dropped through the floor.

He asked again, with less conviction. “What’s my name?”

“Danny,” Steve croaked out.

Danny’s heart restarted. “Good, good, good,” tripped out of his mouth. “How long we known each other?”

Steve gulped, but didn’t hesitate. “Fifty years,” he answered seriously.

“Fifty?” Danny asked, wanting to smack the idiot in front of him. “That’s not funny.”

Steve shook his head a little and his eyes started to clear, “confused face” fading away. “Feels like fifty years,” he said, but his voice and face weren’t smiling.

The joke helped Danny relax a little more and he rested both forearms on Steve’s knees, letting the tension ease out of his body. “That’s not funny. I’m trying to be serious here, ok?” He replied. And the banter felt so easy and so good.

“It’s gonna take more than a little brain scrub for me to forget you pal. Ok?” Steve said, and a smile was starting to play at the corners of his mouth.

Smiling was good. Smiling was a good sign. Or, almost smiling. Danny would take it.

And then Danny put context behind what Steve had said.

“What… what is that supposed to mean?” Danny asked.

“Nothin’,” Steve replied, that smile starting to move to his eyes a little.

“Sarcasm is not nothing,” Danny said, words coming out without permission like they did sometimes when he was coming down from one of the worry highs that Steve gave him. “Sarcasm is not nothing, it’s actually Greek for ‘tearing flesh.’”

“Not being sarcastic,” Steve replied.

“You’re not being genuine. You certainly didn’t say it with any kind of affection toward me,” Danny argued.

Steve smiled wider and dipped his head at that comment, and mumbled something.

“What? What was that?” Danny asked, tilting his head to see Steve’s face.

“I said: you sound like old Danny,” Steve looked up again and his smile was wide enough to show teeth now and Danny thought his heart might explode, and then his brain processed what Steve had said.

“Old Danny?” He asked. “Old Danny? What does that mean? Maybe they really did make you crazy. Did you consider you may have actually gone crazy?”

“Maybe I hallucinated a little,” Steve said.

Danny sighed and sat down next to Steve, their knees touching, elbows and shoulders rubbing. “Hallucinate anything good?”

“It was all good,” Steve replied earnestly, glancing at Danny with a look he couldn’t read. And he had a name for every Steve look, so it put him off a little to see a new one. It was kinda like “Grace face” and his “Danny smile” wrapped up into one. And he wasn’t even going to deal with the fact that Steve had a “Danny smile,” Danny had been not dealing with it for years.

“Alright, enlighten me,” Danny said. “While we wait for the team to come find us, we can have a little story time.”

Steve looked up at the ceiling where the lights from the pool were reflecting through the shimmering water. It would be beautiful if Danny didn’t know what the room was used for. Steve’s eyes glazed like he was trying to remember.

“Well, we opened the restaurant,” Steve said. “Steve’s was a big hit.”

“We are not calling it that,” Danny interrupted.

“You asked for a story, and you’re not gonna let me tell it?” Steve asked, his breathing still trying to return to normal.

Danny waved a hand to indicate “go on.”

“So we opened the restaurant, and it was busy and popular,” Steve reiterated. “Grace got married at my house.” He emphasized his house, heavily. “She got cold feet and we had to give her a good talk to get her-”

“_We_ had to?” Danny asked. “She’s my daughter. Why would you be there giving her the cold feet talk?”

Steve didn’t meet Danny’s eye that time, like he was leaving something out.

“And what next?” Danny asked.

“Charlie graduated the academy and became a cop,” Steve said.

Danny’s heart rate started to speed up. This was all sounding too familiar. “Were you…” He turned to look at Steve. “At the graduation ceremony?”

“Yeah,” Steve smiled and met Danny’s eye this time. “And you’ll never guess who gave the speech at the-”

“Duke,” Danny said, searching Steve’s eyes. “It was Duke wasn’t it?”

Steve nodded, his smile fading, mouth falling open a little. “Yeah, it was. How did you…”

“Were Tani and Junior married?” Danny asked insistently as though he were interrogating someone that had kidnapped his daughter.

Steve’s eyes widened. “Yeah, they were married and running Five-0, how could you possibly know that Danny?”

Danny swallowed heavily. He had never believed in this sort of thing. Not ever. “It’s what I saw,” Danny said. “I never told you but when I got shot, when we were quarantined. Instead of seeing my life flash before my eyes, I kinda saw the future. And I saw the restaurant, and Grace’s wedding day, and Charlies graduation, and…”

“What next?” Steve asked.

“You tell me, babe,” Danny offered. “What was the next one?”

Steve’s eyes were searching, like he was reading something. Danny knew that look too, he used it when he was trying to edit information to prevent giving out unnecessary intel to those who weren’t “need to know.”

Danny grabbed Steve’s shoulders and drew his focus. “Tell me all of it,” Danny commanded. “What are you trying to hide from me?”

Steve shook his head, like he was trying to clear a bad thought. “We went to the hospital to see Kono and Adam. They had a kid. You went to talk to Adam, and I went to visit Kono.”

Danny looked into the distance to pull up the memory of that little future flash he’d had. “I told Adam about swaddling,” he said absently. “He was so happy.”

“Kono wouldn’t stay in bed,” Steve said with a grin.

“Course not,” Danny laughed, and then sobered again.

“No way,” Steve said. “You know what this is? We just know each other too well. We’re just… I’m sure it’s stuff we’ve talked about before that made it into our subconscious.”

“Sure, sure,” Danny said. “That’s gotta be it, right? Did you have any more?”

“One more,” Steve said. “Old Danny.” He laughed. 

Something clicked for Danny. “That’s why you said 50 years,” he said. "Cause we were, what, in our 80's?"

Steve nodded before he continued. “We were sitting on the beach and I was telling you… that someone called.” He creased his brows trying to remember.

“Clara,” they said together.

“Our granddaughter Clara,” Steve repeated.

Danny’s head spun at that sentence. He felt like a cartoon character whose head was spinning round and round, making him dizzy.

Steve seemed to realize what he’d said and cleared his throat. “_Your_ granddaughter, Clara,” he said.

Danny grabbed Steve’s shoulders and looked him square in the eye. “Don’t do that,” Danny said. “Don’t you dare. I heard what you said.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Danny,” Steve said, “you know I’m not thinking clearly right now.”

“Steven so help me, don’t lie to me,” Danny said. “So in your future, we’re…”

Tani burst through the door across the room and immediately lowered her gun with a sigh. “Glad to see you’re taking a breather,” she sassed.

Danny gave Steve a look that said “we’re talking about this later,” but Steve had never been good at reading Danny’s looks. He gave Danny a quick nod before the team stood in front of them, so Danny just hoped his message got through.

Danny barely listened while Tani, Grover, and Junior updated Steve on Greer’s getaway. His head was buzzing with the thought that him and Steve had shared these future flashes somehow. What did that mean? And in Steve’s they had been together? Danny tried to think back if there was anything in his that had indicated they’d been together. Anything that had told him definitively “yes” or “no.” And he couldn’t find anything when he searched his memory. Everything they did in his future visions seemed like something a married couple would do. But they’d always been like that together, the touches and the integration into each other’s families.

Danny didn’t know what to feel, or how to interpret what he wasn’t feeling.

“Danny,” a voice broke through, Tani’s voice. “Danny? Are you ok?”

Danny looked around to find that Steve had an arm around Junior’s shoulder and they were leading him out.

“Yeah,” Danny sighed. “Just been a long night that’s all.” He took her offered hand and she pulled him back to his feet. “I’ll take Steve in the Camaro, get him checked out, and take him home.”

“You sure?” Tani asked as they walked back through the maze of corridors that made up the cargo ship. “June’s could probably take him.”

“Never been more sure of anything in my life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Danny Williams knowing that sarcasm comes from the Greek "to tear flesh" IS CANON - I DID NOT ADD THAT SHIT!!! That is canon dialogue from episode 9x01.
> 
> God I love Danny Williams so much.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Danny won't leave Steve alone until they get to talk about it.
> 
> What do their shared visions mean?
> 
> What does it mean that Steve's showed their relationship in a different light? Or did it?
> 
> Danny doesn't have the patience to wait for that conversation.

Danny was driving his own car; it felt strange, because Steve was sitting in the passenger seat. Something that rarely occurred unless Steve was seriously injured.

Steve wasn’t actually seriously injured now, maybe psychologically, but since when was that a new thing? No, Steve had been checked out by all the finest doctors and been cleared to go home. He had bruises and scrapes from his fight, but was otherwise deemed alright. Again, Danny would disagree, but since when was that a new thing?

“This isn’t the way to my house,” Steve observed blandly as he watched the empty late night/early morning streets roll by.

“You are correct,” Danny replied, “this is, in fact, the way to _my_ house.”

“Danny,” Steve whined, “come on man, just take me home. This makes no sense. You’ve got no spare room. What? Am I gonna sleep in Charlie’s little race car bed?”

“Is there something wrong with Charlie’s ‘little race car bed?’” Danny asked, the familiar bickering relaxing the tense muscles throughout his whole body. “Are you saying you shouldn’t be grateful to sleep in Charlie’s race car bed?”

“It’s a beautiful bed Danny. I should know, I built it myself,” Steve argued back, and Danny could hear the smirk in his voice without having to look. “All I’m saying is I think I’m a little tall for it. And it’s been a long day and I just want to sleep in a real bed. Your couch is comfy and all…”

Danny sighed, feeling better already. “Well, tell you what super SEAL,” he said as he pulled into his driveway, cut the engine and turned to look at Steve. “You can sleep in my bed and I’ll take the couch, ok? Better?”

“No Danny, it’s not better,” Steve argued, even while he was taking his seat belt off. “It’s not better because I don’t understand why I can’t just sleep in my own house, in my own bed.”

They got out and walked to the door together. “Because,” Danny said dramatically, “me and you, my friend, we have some things to talk about.”

Steve let out a sound that was kind of like a sigh and whine at the same time. “Can’t it wait?”

Danny turned before he put the key in the door. Steve was close, looming over him, and why did it mean more now? Why was it different than any other time his giraffe of a partner loomed? Why did it make Danny’s skin tingle? 

Before he could overthink it, he started talking again. “No, Steven, it can’t wait. Do you know why?”

“If I say yes, will you open the door already?” Steve asked, looking tired, and annoyed and just like every other time they’d had an argument that actually meant “I love you, you idiot.”

“Because the longer we wait to talk about this, the more time you’ll have to convince yourself that you’re just crazy and it’s nothing,” Danny said, turning back to the door to open it. “And I refuse to let that happen.”

Danny’s living room was quiet and dark. He turned on the end table light and Steve almost stumbled over him coming in the door.

Steve skirted Danny and immediately headed down the hallway toward the bedroom.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Danny said loudly. The kids weren’t home, he didn’t need to be quiet. “Where do you think you’re going?”

Steve stopped and turned. “You know, for someone who insisted I come over here tonight, you’re a pretty terrible host,” he said. “You’re not even gonna let me take a leak before we embark on, what I can only assume, will be the longest conversation in recorded history?”

Danny waved him off. “Fine, fine,” he said, and then added: “But be quick about it!”

Danny sat on the couch for a good 5 seconds before he got restless and couldn’t sit still. So he got up and grabbed a few beers from the fridge. Steve hadn’t been put on any meds, one beer wouldn’t hurt.

While he waited, Danny thought back on his own future flashes from when he'd been shot. The ones that matched Steve’s almost perfectly. And all he could think was that it seemed like the future of a couple, not friends. When he really analyzed each and every little detail, it indicated that he was _with_ Steve. The way he’d spoon fed Steve in the kitchen of the restaurant they ran together. The fact that Grace got married in Steve’s backyard, even got ready in the spare room upstairs. Steve with Danny at Charlie’s graduation, which absolutely made sense, but no one else had been there with him; not Rachel, or Melissa. Just Steve. And the beach, at the end; Danny and Steve sitting side by side on Steve’s beach and talking about missed phone calls, which implied they lived together.

Danny sighed loud and shook his head. Idiots, derailed for 9 years by the expectations and sexual rules that society laid down for them.

Steve returned from the bathroom and sat next to Danny, sagging back into the couch. Danny handed him the beer bottle and turned toward him on the couch. Steve wouldn’t meet his eye and took a quick swig. He made a face, like it tasted sour, and set it down on the coffee table next to Danny’s untouched bottle.

Danny refused to be the first to speak, so he just watched Steve, who resolutely watched everything else in the room.

“What, Danny?” Steve asked, finally meeting his eye, and turning toward him. “I’m not sure what you want, ok?”

“I want you to tell me the truth,” Danny said. “Listen, I can absolutely get behind us just knowing each other well enough to share these weird little details and spin them into some fanciful future. That makes sense to me. Especially because you said I did a lot of talking when I was shot and having my hallucinations. So I can absolutely understand that your subconscious picked those things up and ran with them. And really? My granddaughter having my mother’s name, not a huge stretch. So I’m not so terribly worried about that weirdness. It’s the other thing.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “The other thing?”

“The _together_ thing Steven,” Danny said, “where did that come from?”

Danny’s mind was already swinging in that direction; the direction that meant it was ok for him to want Steve, and it was like a floodgate was being slowly opened, the flow of feelings and memories gradually making its way through: Every time Steve had smiled that smile at him, the one reserved just for him; the nice things Steve did right from the beginning (other than getting Danny shot of course); the way Danny’s eyes were drawn to Steve each and every time he felt the need to take his shirt off, which was way too often.

But Steve needed to be there with him. Steve needed to admit it first so they could move forward.

Instead Steve sighed and let his head loll onto the back of the couch while he growled out a frustrated noise. “Where did it come from, Danny?” Steve asked, keeping his eyes closed and his head leaned back. “It came from the best relationship I’ve ever had with anyone. The idea of having someone around for my whole life to have my back. Somebody who felt like they belonged in my life the moment I met the stupid idiot.”

“Ok, alright, ok,” Danny said, trying to soothe before he asked his next question, which would just wind Steve up all over again. “But see, you can feel like that about somebody, and they can just be a friend, like a brother, you know? You don’t have to…” He wasn’t sure how to phrase anything.

Steve’s whole body relaxed, and the look on his face, even with his eyes closed, was his “I give up face.” He flopped his head to the side and opened his eyes just a little, looking so tired suddenly. And why had Danny decided to put him through this after all he’d been through?

“It’s not about ‘have to’ or ‘need’ Danny,” he sighed out like he’d been holding the thoughts in for too long. “It’s about want.” He swallowed heavily and his face crumpled for a second as though he was in physical pain before he could recover his stupid “I’m ok” facade.

Danny grinned, and he felt like such an asshole, but he couldn’t hold it back. “How long have you been keeping that one in?” Danny asked.

Steve looked away, and pressed his mouth into a hard line before he answered. “Too long,” he said, “and I’m definitely going to claim torture as the reason for this tomorrow. You know that right?” Steve leaned forward, elbows on knees, head in his hands. “So can we just agree to forget about this now?”

“Oh I never forget anything Steve,” Danny said, still grinning, “I’m like an elephant. And I was just thinking back on my little… visions of the future, whatever you want to call them… and I realized that in all of mine there was absolutely no indication that we weren’t a couple. I mean, come on, sitting out on the beach together, living in your house together when we’re 80? And nagging each other like an old married couple? There’s really only one explanation.”

“You went senile and needed constant care, so you moved in with me,” Steve joked through the palms that covered his face.

“No, you idiot,” Danny said, smacking Steve’s shoulder and making sure to avoid any of the injuries from the fight (he'd been there for the exam, he knew where they all were). “That we _were_ an old married couple.”

Steve dropped his hands and hung his head. “Danny. Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” Danny said. “You’re a real mess, you know that Steve? Guy’s trying to tell you that he loves you here. That he’s _in_ love with you. And you’re so broken that you don’t even see it?”

Steve’s body tensed all at once and he turned back to Danny. “What… I don’t… Are you…”

“I’m gonna give you a pass on being an idiot tonight, only because of the torture,” Danny said, shaking a finger in Steve’s face and still wearing his stupid grin.

Steve still looked like he was waiting to have his heart broken. And that made Danny’s heart hurt. So he leaned forward and kissed Steve’s mouth. A soft, gentle first date type kiss. Steve’s lips didn’t even move, his body tight and tense like he was a stupid beautiful Greek-god type statue made of solid marble.

Danny backed up and opened his eyes to find Steve still wearing the same expression, frozen in shock and disbelief. Danny just smiled at him, and put a hand on Steve’s back to, hopefully, be comforting.

“It’s all good babe,” Danny said. “You’ve been through a helluva lot today. We can talk about this in the morn-”

Before Danny knew what was happening Steve had crawled into his lap; leg thrown over, fully straddling him, knees on either side of his hips.

Danny sat back into the cushions like he’d been shocked. “Or we could just… do… that.”

Steve leaned over and kissed Danny for real this time. The kind of x-rated kiss you see in porn where mouths are open, tongues are everywhere and saliva gets all over cheeks and chins.

Danny pushed Steve back, and normally that probably wouldn’t have really been an option because of the guy’s stupid Superman muscles, but Steve was worn out and gave against Danny’s palms, sitting back. And holy hell that was a picture Danny had never thought he’d wanted: Steve McGarrett sitting in his lap, lips wet with spit, eyes dark and dangerous in the most sexy way.

“Steve, hold on,” Danny said. “This probably really isn’t the best idea. Like, we should talk some more, like, in the morning, and I can make pancakes and we can… talk some more. Before we just jump into…” His eyes darted toward the hallway that led to his bedroom. “Well, you know.”

“Danny, we’ve spent nine years talking,” Steve said, a grin starting to pull at his mouth, “so can you just shut up for a few minutes?”

“A few minutes? That’s all you need?” Danny couldn’t stop the words from falling out of his mouth, and he grinned wide, feeling drunk and stupid.

Steve leaned back down again, smiling wide, to answer Danny with a meeting of lips.

It was brief, because Danny pushed him back again. “Listen, babe, I’m serious here. It’s been a long day, we should wait until the morning and-”

Steve cut him off. “Do you want me, Danny?” His voice was rough and low, and he watched Danny’s lips intently, like a tiger watching prey. “Do you want me like this?”

He knew Steve didn’t mean that particular position, but did Danny want him romantically at all. Danny just nodded his head. Words weren’t really working, and all he could manage was a choked out: “But…”

Steve played with the top button of Danny’s shirt; not undoing it, just twisting it in his fingers while he stared into Danny’s eyes. “Listen Danny. I was in that tank for hours tonight. And it was like floating in nothing. No sound, no smell, no touch…” He swallowed heavily, his adam’s apple bobbing in the dim light from the lamp. And holy shit how had Danny let himself be so blind to the way he really felt? Steve continued: “No taste. I wasn’t hot, I wasn’t cold. I couldn’t feel anything. It was like being in a vacuum.”

Danny’s hands finally came up to rest on Steve’s thighs. He wanted to be reassuring, wanted to comfort.

Steve shuddered at the touch, his eyes rolling back in his head. “I can’t think of any better way to spend tonight than touching you and feeling you and tasting you Danny.”

And that sent electricity from Danny’s toes all the way up to the top of his head, making a significant stop in his pants on the way.

Danny wanted to protest. Steve was too tired for all of it; he’d just been brainwashed and he wasn’t even in his right mind. Danny would be taking advantage. Except that Danny knew Steve well enough to know that none of that was the case. Danny was just afraid to take the leap.

Before Danny could answer, Steve curled over him and put his mouth to Danny’s neck, kissing a line from his shirt collar up to his jaw and across to his mouth again. And then their mouths were open to each other again and it was like they became one person. Steve relaxed into him, his knees sinking back into the cushions as their hips locked together. Steve’s hands slid up from his shirt button to hold Danny’s cheeks and keep him steady. Their tongues traded back and forth like a perfect battle of hot and wet.

And then Danny noticed it. He should have noticed it earlier, but hell, he was tired too, and apparently not 100% on his game.

Steve was shaking. His fingertips where they dug into the skin just behind the hinge of Danny’s jaw were tapping a frightening message into Danny’s skin. Steve wasn’t excited, this wasn’t that. Steve was coming apart, and not in a sexy way.

Danny pushed Steve back again. This wasn’t right. Not like this. There were other ways to feel and be, without jumping into the physical part of their relationship on a whim like this.

“Danny…” Steve panted, his chest heaving. “What…”

Danny took Steve’s hands from his throat, prying them away and holding them in his own hands. They were still shaking. “It’s ok that you’re not alright Steve,” Danny said. “It’s ok to not be ok. There’s nobody else here. Just me.”

He could feel it all around him now; Steve’s legs quivering, his shoulders shaking, a deep trembling that came from his core.

Danny had been so ready to lose himself in the excitement, in his lust, that he’d almost pushed right on past all of this.

Steve’s face hardened, and then Danny watched him change his expression with effort. And there it was, the famous wide-eyed Steve McGarrett puppy dog look. It broke the tension of the moment perfectly.

“C’mon Danny,” Steve said, his fingers still tapping out a rhythm between Danny’s hands. “You’re gonna get a guy all hot and bothered and then just stop?”

“That, is exactly what I’m going to do,” Danny said with a smile as he let himself lean back into the cushions and relax. It wasn’t happening tonight. Not yet. And the tense anticipation melted out of him. He pulled Steve’s hands close and kissed his fingertips. “I will tell you what is going to happen. You and me are going to go into that bedroom. We are going to strip down to something decent: t-shirts and boxers. And then we are going to crawl into bed together and sleep.”

Steve opened his mouth, but Danny cut him off.

“No ifs ands or buts mister,” Danny said.

“I’m really not that tired Danny,” Steve said. The way he was still trembling with little emotional aftershocks was making it really hard not to get excited, especially with how their bodies were slotted together.

“Listen, I get that you're all ready and raring to go... I, however, am tired. It has been one hell of a long day babe. And I would love to just crawl into bed with you and sleep for a solid eight hours knowing you're right there with me. Think we can do that?”

Steve looked suddenly serious, concerned even, and his shaking stopped as he slid his hands around in Danny’s and twined their fingers together.

“There are ways to feel and touch and all that fun stuff without jumping right into sex Steve,” Danny said, wanting to make sure Steve knew that they would be close, that he could have some of what he wanted. 

Steve grinned. “Danny Williams is a cuddler?”

“Come here you schmuck,” Danny pulled on Steve’s hands and their lips met again. But it was soft this time; it wasn’t trying to build to something else.

Steve leaned back, stood from Danny’s lap, and pulled him up from the couch. Danny assumed they would walk down the hall to the bedroom, but instead Steve pulled him into a hug, wrapping his big stupid beautiful tattooed arms around Danny’s shoulders. Danny fit perfectly just under Steve’s chin, and his arms immediately slid around Steve’s middle, pulling him in tight.

“I got you,” Danny said softly into Steve’s neck.

Steve shuddered at the words. “I know Danny.”

“Let’s go to bed Steve,” Danny said.

“Just one more minute,” Steve said, and his voice sounded broken as his arms pulled a little tighter. “Just give me, one more minute.”

Danny didn’t say anything, just held Steve close.

Finally, Steve’s weight started to sag onto him, and Danny could tell Steve was exhausted.

“Ok babe,” Danny said softly. “We can do this in bed you know?”

“Yeah. Yeah,” Steve said absently as though he was already half asleep. “Ok.”

Danny dragged him down the hall, and stripped both of them down so they were in boxers and t-shirts.

Steve immediately ripped his t-shirt off. “I haven’t worn a t-shirt to bed since I was fifteen,” he said before crawling into Danny’s bed like he owned it. It made Danny smile.

Danny climbed in next to Steve, unsure where they went next. What did Steve want? What did he need from Danny?

Steve didn’t leave him waiting long, and rolled over so they were facing each other. He put a hand on the side of Danny’s neck and stroked softly with his thumb. Danny kissed Steve gently again and let his hand rest on Steve’s hip.

Steve’s fingers on the back of Danny’s neck tensed. Danny slid closer until their legs were tangled together. Steve’s hand relaxed.

“Sleep, ok?” Danny said. “Tonight, just sleep Steve. I’ve got you.”

Steve’s eyes welled up a little as he moved a little closer still. There was no room between them at all. He nodded, like he couldn’t find the words to speak.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Danny said softly, “I’ll be right here in the morning.”

“How do I know I’m not still in there Danny?” Steve asked, his chin trembling with the question. “That this isn’t some dream?”

Danny closed his arms around Steve. “Cause you can feel again babe,” he said. “It feels real, right?”

“Yeah, it does,” Steve said, his body relaxing in Danny’s arms.

Danny’s arms ached, but he didn’t care, he held Steve close. If Steve needed to feel to know he was alive, Danny would hold him tight through the whole night.

"I love you Danny," Steve's exhausted voice puffed out. And it was different from every "I love you" they'd shared before, but it was also exactly the same.

"I love you too Steve."

**Author's Note:**

> I changed the "future flashes" a little so they weren't exactly like Danny's in canon... so they were seen through Steve's eye with Steve's slant on what he wants out of the future.
> 
> So if you're thinking that they seem off from Danny's and aren't exactly the same, I did tweak them a bit.


End file.
